Shoe for automatic nailing machine



July 12, 1966 E. A. PARR 3,260,437

SHOE FOR AUTOMATIC NAILING MACHINE Filed May 18, 1964 F1a. 7 FIG. 2.Fre. s.

INVENTOR EDWARD ALnEN PARR a, 5M A2M ATTORNEY United States Patent O3,260,437 SHOE FOR AUTOMATIC NAILING MACHINE Edward Alden larr, PaloAlto, Calif., assignor of onehalf to Cavell X. Boyle, Palo Alto, Calif.,and one-half to Donald G. Williams, San Mateo, Calif.

Filed May 18, 1964, Ser. No. 368,098 4 Claims. (Cl. 227-149) Thisinvention relates to automatic nailing machines and deals particularlywith an improved shoe adapted to replace the shoe as shown and describedin my Patent No. 3,041,617, issued to me on the 3rd day of July 1962.

The invention to be described and claimed hereinafter is an improvementon the invention disclosed in said patent and the shoe described hereinhas been designed to Work in conjunction with the machine shown in theabove mentioned patent and the illustration and description herein willbe directed exclusively to that part of the machine which has beenestablished in the said patent as the shoe.

The primary object of the invention to be described and claimedhereinafter is vto provide a shoe of the character described which willwork with the mechanisms described in the said patent to perform all thenecessary functions of a shoe in a precise manner. One which will reactquickly :and accurately to the movement of the machine over a iioor.

Another object is to produce a shoe that will not drop nails at unwantedplaces.

A further object is to provide a shoe that will not clog the nails inthe nail feeding route.

Still another object is to provide a shoe wherein the nail feedingmechanism is posi-tive in action and under strict control of theoperator at all times.

Briefly stated, the invention `amoun-ts to providing a shoe adapted toreplace the shoe on the nailing machine shown in the above mentionedpatent in any suitable manner, such as by making it integral with themachine or detachably mounting 'the shoe on the lower end of the mainbarrel shown in the patent, wherein the new shoe comprises a bodyportion adapted to form a xed extension of the main barrel of thestriking mechanism and carries within itself a member pivoted at itslower end that swings in a vertical slot in the wall of the extension.The slot extends through the wall of the extension into the inner boreof the extension which carries the striker operated by `the strikingmechanism shown in the patent and the pivoted member freely slides inthe slot. When the machine is lifted from -the floor the sliding memberis held in a closed position, that is, a position where the nail is heldin the inner bore of the shoe. This would occur when the whole machineis raised from the floor and is being moved from place to place. As soonas the machine is set down in a new nailing position, :a cam shaped toeon the lower end of the pivoted member engages the floor and swings themember outwardly in the slot and :the nail drops to the bottom of thebore where the striker drives it home. During these operations, the nailfeeding mechanism has dropped :a single nail into the nail chute fromwhere it drops into a tapered opening at the top of the slot where it issuspended by its head. After the nail is driven and the machine ispicked up to be moved to a new spot for driving a nail, the pivotedmember swings back into a closed position and in so doing pushes thesuspended nail ahead of itself in the slot unil it reaches the innerbore of the shoe where it holds the nail in this position as beforestated. At this point the cycle has been completed land is ready to berepeated. The operation is continuous and is brought about by raisingand lowering the machine from the floor.

Other objects and advantages will become apparent as the descriptionproceeds in conjunction with the drawing in which:

ice

FIG. l is a side elevation of the complete m-achine showing howapplicants invention would appear when used in conjunction with themechanisms of the patent mentioned;

FIG. 2 is an enlarged fragmentary View of FIG. 1 taken in lthe directionof the arrow 2;

FIG. 3 is a side view of FIG. 2 taken in the direction of the arrow 3;

FIG. 4 is a vertical section taken on the line 4 4 of FIG. 2;

FIG. 5 is the same view :as FIG. 4 with the pivoted member shown in itsoutward or open position;

FIG. 6 is a cross section taken on line 6 6 of FIG. 4;

FIG. 7 is a cross section taken on line 7 7 of FIG. 4; and

FIG. 8 is a cross section taken on line 8 8 of FIG. 5.

In describing the presen-t invention, reference will be made to theoriginal invention covered 'by the herein mentioned patent in generalterms only so far as is necessary to establish the mechanism involved toshow the use and construction of the present invention as it relates tothe original patent.

In FIG. l the original machine is shown as it was illustrated in heformer patent with the original shoe replaced by applioants presentshoe. I-t will be seen that the complete machine comprises, generallyspeaking, a main barrel, or the body of the machine, designated 11; areciprocable striking member, designated 12; a nail hopper generallydesignated 13a; Aa nail feeding mechanism designated 13; and a shoegenerally designated 14. Applicants invention resides in the shoe 14 aswill ybe explained hereinafter, the rest of the recited mechanismsoperate in the same manner as explained in the said patent.

Referring to the drawing, it Will be seen in FIGS. 2 to 8 thatapplioants new shoe comprises a barrel generally designated 15. Thisbarrel as before stated, may be made integral with Ithe main barrel 11of the original structure shown in FIG. 1 or it may be made to bedetachably mounted on the lower end of the barrel 11. The barrel 15 isformed with a slot 16 which runs vertically up one side of the barreland terminates in a hole 17 which is larger diametrically than the widthof the slot and is formed by drilling a hole straight in to the bore 25of the barrel and then slanting the drill upwardly and forming adownward slope of the hole toward the center of the barrel, see FIG. 4.The hole is of sufficient diameter to slidably pass -the heads of nailsand the width of the slot should be sufficient to slidably pass theshanks of the nails.

Slidably mounted in the slot 16 is a member 18 which is pivoted at itslower end as Vshown at 19. To provide the necessary strength and furnishan extended slot 16, I have provided wings 20 and 21 which are welded tothe body 15 and aligned with the slot on each edge. The purpose of theseis to extend the slot so that the pivoted member 18 will have sufficientsupport when in its outwardly extended position Vand also as shown, tofurnish the pivot point 19.

The member 118 is pivotally mounted to freely slide in the slot 16 andbetween the wings 20 and 21 and has a cam shaped .toe 22 which extendsbelow the body 15 when the member is in a closed position, as shown inFIG. 4. This position occurs when the nailing machine is raised Ifromthe floor for movement to a new position for nailing .and the slidingmember 18 is pulled into a closed position by a coiled spring 26 whichextends around the body of the barrel 15 and has its ends connected to ashort piece of iiat metal strip 27 fastened to the outer edge of themember 18. For purposes of handling the machine on a iloor and avoidingobtrusions that might catch an operators clothing, the metal stripPatented July 12, 1966 3 is set into a recess 29 so that it will beflush lwith the edge of the wings and 21 when the sliding member 1S isin a closed position. The wings `2) and 21 likewise have similarrecesses 30 on their outer edges. The lower end of the barrel 15 ischamfered as indicated at 32 to permit driving toe nails and using incorners.

Before ygoing into a description of the operation of the machine, itshould be understood that the striking member l112 is presumed to bepouver driven, either by electricity or pneumatic pressure and that themachine is lifted from the floor by raising the striking member to thelimit of its upward stroke where it engages a stop and lifts the machinefrom the oor, all of which is explained in the before mentioned patent.This position is shown in FIG. 4. Here it will be noted that thestriking member 12 is in the upper part of the bore 25 of the barrel 15and that the sliding member -18 is in a closed position. In thisposition several things should be observed. IFirst, that the cam shapedtoe 22 has rotated -into a position below the end of the shoe. Second,that the sliding member 18 is in a closed position and has .a nail Nclamped in the bore 25 where it can not fall out during movement of themachine. Third, that when the machine is set down in a new nailingposition the sliding member 18 is swung outwardly on its pivot 19 andassumes the position shown in FIG. 5. This releases the nail N and itfalls to the bottom of the bore 25 ready tfor the striking member :12.As the striking member 12 is lowered in the bore the nail feedingmechanism generally designated 13 drops a single nail into the nailchute 53 and it passes through the `chute and falls between the wings 20and 21. It will be noted that the upper ends of the wings are bentoutwardly from each other and form a Wedge shaped entrance to the spacebetween the wings into which the chute enters, best shown in FIG. 2. Asthe nail falls into the wedge shaped entrance, the head of the nailengages the sides of the entrance and the nail is loosely supported in aposition as shown in FIG. 2 and FIG. 5. The striker drives the nail homein the bore 25 and is withdrawn to raise the machine and move it to anew position. During this latter operation, the sliding member 18 ispulled back into a closed position by the spring 26 and as it passesthrough the slot 16, it catches the nail on its point 33 and pushes itahead of itself through the slot 16. The head of the nail passes throughthe hole 17 land the nail enters the bore 25 and slides down until it isheld in position by the point 32 on .the member 18, see FIG. 4. In thisposition, the cycle is ready to repeat.

Although I have shown and described my invention in conjunction -with myformer patent hereinbefore mentioned, nevertheless, it should beapparent that the shoe involved in the present invention is capable of'working in conjunction Awith any automatic nail driving machine thathas a nail feeding mechanism equivalent to the one shown in my formerpatent.

I claim:

1. A shoe for an automatic nailing machine of the character describedcomprising an elongated body adapted to be operably connected to saidmachine, said body having a longitudinal bore therethrough and a slot onone side paralleling and extending into said bore, said slot extendingfrom the lower end of said body and terminating short of the upper endthereof in a hole of greater diameter than the width of said slot, amember pivoted at the lower end slidably mounted in said slot adapted toswing into and out of the bore in said body, said member having a camshaped toe on the lower end thereof arranged to extend below the lowerend of said body to engage the surface of a floor and rotate saidsliding member out of said slot to an open position when said bodycontacts said floor, and a spring member arranged -to swing said slidingmember into said slot to a closed position when said body is lifted fromthe Hoor.

2. A device as set forth in claim 1 which also includes means yforextending said slot outwardly with respect to said body with a wedgeshaped opening to the outward extension of said slot above the said holeterminating the slot in the body.

3. A shoe yfor an automatic nailing machine of the character describedcomprising an elongated body having a bore longitudinally therethrough,there being a slot on one side of said body paralleling and extendinginto said bore, said slot terminating short of the upper end of saidshoe in a hole of greater diameter than the width of said slot, a platefixed to the outer surface of said body on each side of said slot `andin alignment therewith forming an outward extension of said slot withrespect to said body, said plates being bent at their upper ends to forma wedge shaped entrance to said slot, a sliding member in said slotpivotally mounted at the lower end thereof adapted to swing into and outof the bore in said body, a cam shaped toe on the lower end of saidsliding member adapted to engage a floor and rotate said sliding memberon its pivot out of said bore and into an open position, and a springmember arranged to swing sad sliding member back into a closed positionwhen said body is raised from the floor.

4. In combination with an automatic nailing machine having an automaticnail feeding mechanism which includes a nail hopper, a nail chute, andmeans operable by raising said machine with respect to a floor to feed asingle nail from said hopper to said chute, a shoe adapted to beoperably embodied in said machine, said shoe comprising an elongatedbody having a longitudinal bore therethrough, there being a slot on oneside of said body paralleling and extending into said bore, said slotterminating short of the upper end of said body in a hole of greaterdiameter than the width of said slot, a plate fixed to the outer surfaceof said body on each side of said slot and in alignment therewithlforming an outward extension of said slot with respect to said body,said plates being -away from each other at their upper ends to form awedge shaped entrance to the slot between them positioned to receiven-ails from said chute, a sliding member in said slot pivotally mountedat the Ilower end thereof adapted to swing into and out of the bore insaid body, a cam shaped toe on the lower end of said sliding memberadapted to engage the `floor and rotate said sliding member on its pivotout of said bore and into an open position, and a spring member arrangedto swing said sliding member back into a closed position when said bodyis raised from Ithe floor .and push a nail dropped from the chute ofsaid automatic: nailing machine into said wedge shaped entrance lwhereit is supported by the head thereof into the ybore of said body and holdthe nail in a fixed position.

No references cited.

GRANVILLE Y. CUSTER, IR., Primary Examiner.

1. A SHOE FOR AN AUTOMATIC NAILING MACHINE OF THE CHARACTER DESCRIBEDCOMPRISING AN ELONGATED BODY ADAPTED TO BE OPERABLY CONNECTED TO SAIDMACHINE, SAID BODY HAVING A LONGITUDINAL BORE THERETHROUGH AND A SLOT ONONE SIDE PARALLELING AND EXTENDING INTO SAID BORE, SAID SLOT EXTENDINGFROM THE LOWER END OF SAID BODY AND TERMINATING SHORT OF THE UPPER ENDTHEREOF IN A HOLE OF GREATER DIAMETER THAN THE WIDTH OF SAID SLOT, AMEMBER PIVOTED AT THE LOWER END SLIDABLY MOUNTED IN SAID SLOT ADAPTED TOSWING INTO AND OUT OF THE BORE IN SAID BODY, SAID MEMBER HAVING A CAMSHAPED TOE ON THE LOWER END THEREOF ARRANGED TO EXTEND BELOW THE LOWEREND OF SAID BODY TO ENGAGE THE SURFACE OF A FLOOR AND ROTATE SAIDSLIDING MEMBER OUT OF SAID SLOT TO AN OPEN POSITION WHEN SAID BODYCONTACTS SAID FLOOR, AND A SPRING MEMBER ARRANGED TO SWING SAID SLIDINGMEMBER INTO SAID SLOT TO A CLOSED POSITION WHEN SAID BODY IS LIFTED FROMTHE FLOOR.